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How did you feel about your parenting style as you had more children?

Hi,

As bubba number 2 will be arriving soon I have been considering how I am approaching parenting now compared to when I first had my son. I feel a lot more prepared and knowledgeable this time (although I know you can never be totally prepared!) - and I suppose that is normal.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I did not know the things I know now when I had my son. For example, I was influenced by the hospital staff the try nipple shields early on without knowing they are likely to reduce your breast milk supply. These days, I feel confident in our gentle parenting style even if it is not the norm in the area I live. I am happy that we are bringing up our children in a way that respects them and is lead by them. I did not feel this self-assurance when my first-born was very young.

I'm interested to know how other mums felt about their parenting style as their family grew. Did you adapt anything? Did you feel more confident as your family grew? Is there anything you regretted not knowing with earlier children?

The one thing that comes to mind that I changed after the first was choosing not to introduce a bottle at 12 months of age because my daughter chose to wean at 13 months of age, preferring the bottle to me. I only introduce the bottle at the grandparents' suggestion because they wanted to be able to feed my baby.

So... never introduced the bottle with the next 4 children except when medically necessary (i.e. 3rd child was in ICU and doctor had not given orders to breastfeed, though I did insist on giving my baby breastimilk in the bottles, and with baby #5 when I had dental work done which required me to pump and dump. Those were for very short periods of time (i.e. 1 to 3 days) and those babies went right back to the breast.

You will learn with the passage of time by spending more and more time with them you parenting style will increase and you will be able to manage with the experiance. But always give importance to your children and make them happy and understand them.

I have found the journey/transition from 1 to 2 children smoother than expected. Of course, it brings its extra struggles (they both seem to need feeding/extra attention when I am trying to cook dinner!) but I wouldn't change it for the world.